I came to Denmark in December 2007 from Melbourne with my partner and dog to start a new phase of our lives living in Europe. My partner had already successfully applied for a job here before we left Australia, and we both managed to get working permits fairly quickly. I'm a Scientist and on the Danish "wish list" of skills, so I expect this coupled with my partner already having a job offer, aided our application for a working permit. After a couple of months here, I also found a job working for a company that I had singled out as a place I'd like to work and for which I thought my skills were particularly suited. We have enjoyed living here and find Copenhagen a nice, clean easy place to live. So apart from the usual adjustments to living in a new country and the language, I was very happy!
I love my job, but unfortunately it is located in the North of Zealand in a little country town and this involves a 15 minute walk to the train station, 2 train trips and then a 10 minute bike ride to get to work. So each day I end up spending 3 hours minimum in travel time, then if there are train cancelations or delays, this of course takes even longer as the final country train I catch only leaves every 30 minutes. After a lot of train delays in December last year, I finally "spat the dummy" (to use an Australian expression?) and decided to get a car. Up until this point I was prepared to live without a car, as at least while in Copenhagen it is easy to get around. In addition cars and petrol are expensive here, about 2-3 times more expensive than in Australia and most other countries for that mater, and I also liked the idea that I was being "green"!
I had been under the impression that as an Australian, I could simply walk into the Police office and swap my drivers licence for a Danish one and start driving, because my Australian and American colleagues had done this before me. So with this in mind, off I went looking at cars and I had decided on which car I would buy. A colleague at work was also looking at buying the same car and had managed to negotiate a good deal which I was also able to get - GREAT, lets start driving to work and cut my one-way trip from 1.5 hours to around 0.5 hours, not to mention the other freedoms a car offers you!
So I had negotiated a deal to buy this car and then found out that it is now the Borgerservice that handles the driving licences and not the Police anymore, and unfortunately for me/us this means there had to be more strict guidelines laid down that they could follow and it was no longer up to the Police officers discretion. So I wander on down to our local Borgerservice in Østerbro. I confidently hand over my Victorian drivers licence and then I'm told, I'm sorry, we only accept a swap if you are from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which for those of you that don't know, is a funny little territory in Australia that was created for the sole purpose of housing our Federal Parliament (because Melbourne and Sydney could not agree on who should be the Capital of Australia!). Mmmmmm, this is disappointing, so now I am told that I need to sit the theory and practical tests, but being a conversion licence I would not need to attend the compulsory theory classes and practical driving classes. Well that's some consolation I suppose! However it was also around this time that news started filtering in about how difficult this test was to pass, even for the Danes!
Writing to the Authorities for an explanation
So after this disappointing news, I considered my options... this car was meant to save me time travelling to work and make my life easier, but if I have to invest a lot of time in passing this test it will be counterproductive. The fact that only ONE State of Australia and a handful of other obscure countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Russia were included in this swap deal appeared very odd to me (also, take a look my page on road fatality statistics), so I wrote to the Australian Embassy and the Danish Ministry of Justice for further explanation and to seek an exemption.
Well a rather vague first answer from the Australian Embassy about the other States not meeting the Danish regulations (tell me something I don't know!), there was no further explanation or offer of assistance. So I wrote back and asked for further clarification - what is the difference between a Victorian and ACT licence?! Apparently in the ACT you are REQUIRED to have a qualified instructor, whereas in Victoria it is not required (although many people do use an instructor, however you could also have your parents or someone else teach you but you still of course need to pass the theory and practical tests). Well as I have pointed out elsewhere in this blog, I did have a qualified instructor way back 25 years ago, but I have no way of proving that now and besides, isn't 25 years of driving experience and a good driving record worth something, and if you pass the tests, isn't that what counts?! After all, I am only expected to sit the tests in Denmark and not do any lessons with "qualified instructors", so what is the difference??!! 
So in mid-January 2010 I return from Australia and head down to the Police office in Amager. With me I take a copy of a letter I have from my Australian car insurer stating that I am a rating 1 (best rating) for the rest of my life (if you remain at rating one long enough, you keep this rating for the rest of your life)!! So I see a Police officer and tell her my plight and present the insurers statement with other relevant documents and proudly add that I have a good driving record in Australia and have been driving for 25 years! She said she would need to refer this to the Borgerservice because they now handle licences. Um, the Borgerservice just referred me to you and now you are referring me back to them, I can see where this is heading... in circles! Anyway, she takes copies of my documents and said she'll send them off to the Borgerservice (I get no reference number, receipt or anything), but that she was not hopeful for me gaining an exemption, that an reply might take 1-3 months and that I should start preparing for taking the tests in the meantime. Umm, shit I was afraid this might happen, so I took her advise and went back to the Borgerservice.
I went into the Borgerservice to hand over my Australian drivers licence and activate my 3-month temporary licence so that I could register with a driving school and start taking these tests! By the way, I will point out here that I resent needing to hand over my Australian licence because this is MY "qualification" and like a Bachelor Degree or certificate, why should they have the right to keep it. Sure look at it, take copies of it, whatever, but why keep it! Surely I can have 2 qualifications, one to drive in Australia and one to drive in Denmark! ... but obviously not!
God this is a long story.... on we go.... so I hand over my licence and expect to receive this 3-month licence to go down and register immediately with the driving school I had chosen. Another problem, you need a medical certificate stating you are fit to drive!
OK, I happen to have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of weeks time so I will simply ask for a letter. I get the doctors letter and go back to the Borgerservice... oh I'm sorry, it has to be on a special form, FUCKING HELL how many times do I have to come back to this place and get step by step instructions!!! So I go back to the doctor, pay 500 kr (normally doctor visits are free in DK) for this special form and examination. The medical examination is very basic, some general questions about your health and any medications, an eye test (he made me do the test without my spectacles first and then after I did it with them he stated it would be a requirement for me to drive with them - um, yes I know this, its already on my Australian licence), a hearing test where the doctor stood at the back of the room and whispered out numbers which I had to repeat - pass, good I can hear! A reflex test where the 70 year-old doctor asked me to press my foot against his hand, and I thought to myself I better press lightly otherwise I will break his frail old bones! Oh, and the urine test, which upon arrival at the Doctors reception I was given a regular plastic disposable drinking cup and instructed to "give" a sample. So down to the toilet I go, fill the cup, then sheepishly approach the reception desk with his open topped cup of urine in front of all the other patients. Oh, there's a special "Urine cup" cupboard outside the toilet where I should place the cup!
SO, medical certificate in hand I go back to the Borgerservice and FINALLY I get my little piece of hand written licence... I quickly rush to the Driving School to register and get access to the online practice test so I can finally start this process! At the driving school I pay the 1,700 kr to register for the Theory Package. He asks me for "the form from the borgerservice"... what form I ask. They should have given you a form that you need to give to me so that I can register you for the tests, it looks like this and he presented me with a blank one. Oh, I never got such a form and now its too late to go back to the Borgerservice, so its another visit to the Borgerservice the next day. I present the form at the Borgerservice and ask where is mine. Oh, thats the application form you filled out... well maybe I should have known that, but honestly it was back in December, it was now February and the form was in Danish. She told me my form was going to the Valby office for validation because they do not validate them here, you should receive it in the mail. The next day I receive it in the the mail and go back to the Driving School. Finally I am registered to take this god damned test!
I start practising the online tests... WTF does "Should I pay particular attention to the course, surrounds, type, equipment etc of the road" mean? Well after going through the various books and repeating the 25 online tests, I finally got some idea of what answers they "required". Of course this has nothing to do with my knowledge of the road laws or my ability to drive a car, but simply you need to understand what they expect to hear. I get the "green light" on the online test, saying that I am ready to go for the theory test! Yippeeeee I visit the Driving School and ask him to book me in for the pre-test 2 hour session at the driving school and the theory test. A six week wait until the test. So I wait and practice some more. Then I get an SMS from the Driving School changing my 2 hour lesson date. OK no problem, the date of the test is the same. A couple of weeks later I get call from the Driving School, sorry we booked you in for the wrong language for the test, the next one is 3 week later. Um, not happy but what can I do. In the meantime I get a long letter (in Danish and full of rules and regulation numbers) back from the Bogerservice (via the Police) that I have not been granted an exemption to these tests.
The fateful day finally arrives. I have practised hard with the online tests and was continually passing and I had read the 200 page road law book cover to cover several times... I'm as ready as I'll ever be! I had held off looking at or buying a car since December, but I wanted one ASAP and decided that if I passed the theory test, that I'd buy a car and start getting in some practice driving on the right side of the road before the practical test (which is apparently easier to pass), so a couple of weeks before the test I started looking again and had made a deal with a dealer that if I passed the test I would immediately go out and buy the car.
So that's my rather long story up until now!!! and that's why I decided to let out my frustrations on this blog page and maybe help others in the process! I also considered the time spent on setting up this blog page - but in comparison to the time I have spent on getting this far, its miniscule!!! AND a whole lot more satisfying!!!
Good luck, and make sure you register your protest, no mater how small or simple the email or letter is, LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE NOT HAPPY AND THAT IT IS UNJUST AND RIDICULOUS!!!!! If they don't hear your protests, they will assume everyone is happy with the process!
